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“Well, I’m not sure, but it looks like out of all the people in the world, only one person is left standing without being destroyed, but the others, they must have been destroyed . . . doesn’t make much sense.” - John 3:16

Confused? That is what our Japanese Deaf friend, a Christian for over 30 years, understood his Japanese Bible to say. Of course, he knew better after 30 years in church, but that is still what he understood John 3:16 to mean.

For 250,000 Japanese Deaf people, Japanese is a foreign language they had to actively study to learn. They couldn't learn it just by hearing and absorbing it like a first language. For them, the language they can just absorb is Japanese Sign Language (JSL), a language more different from Japanese than English is from Chinese. So different that a Deaf person fluent in JSL can understand the words of John 3:16 in the Japanese Bible to mean the complete opposite of what it’s supposed to.

Current Project: Exodus

ViBi*, the Japanese Sign Language Bible Translation project, is working to translate the Bible into Japanese Sign Language, the language the typical Deaf Japanese person uses. Having finished the Gospel of John, ViBi is now translating Exodus, but needs funds to continue working.

About ViBi

ViBi—the Japanese Sign Language Bible Translation Project—was established in 1993. ViBi translates the Hebrew and Greek Bible into Japanese Sign Language, and publishes it in visual formats such as video and DVD. As one of the first sign language Bible translation projects, ViBi plays a key role in the worldwide sign language Bible translation movement and was awarded the Distinguished Bible Service award by the Japan Bible Society in 2007. So far 15 books of the Bible have been completed in Japanese Sign Language: Genesis, Ruth, Esther, Jonah, Matthew, Mark, John, Acts, Galatians, Philippians, Colossians, 1&2 Thessalonians, Philemon, James.